BEAVER THANKFUL DAY

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers November 26, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at beaver central. The new header image is from the bestest card ever sent by our own stalwart champion Leslie Mills. There’s even more to be thankful for this morning. First I’m thankful to learn I was wrong in yesterday’s post. Forest News isn’t from Colorado specifically, it’s a watchdog group made of of USFS members who watch and advise forest policy in EVERY state. Wow.

I’m grateful for the California Beaver Summit and all the great learning and connections that grew out of it. I’m grateful that Ben’s fantastic book is still pushing the best kind of advancement as people learn about beavers and selfishly grateful for all the random people that seem to write me or donate to Worth A Dam because of it. I’m grateful for the Bay Nature article and that the Fairfield beavers had a kit this year. I’m grateful that beavers appeared in the nature based climate solutions and OH YEAH I’m grateful that the Human Wildlife Conflict team of CDFW wanted to meet with the Worth A Dam team and told us beavers were on their radar. (more…)

COLORADO FOREST SERVICE SEEKING BEAVERS

Well, well. well. Guess who’s featured in this issue of Forest News? I’ll give you a hint. It has a flat tail. What a great outcome from the Colorado Beaver Summit last month. And I’m looking at you California, Ahem.

The issue is all about how badly our forest have been hurt by our activities over the past couple centuries, including mining and trapping beavers. It specifically says that things can be improved by restoring the beaver population as quickly as possibly. Here are some highlights but you can read the entire article by clicking below.

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THIS HERON IS BLUE WITHOUT BEAVERS

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and Birds November 26, 2021

More blue herons. I vote for more blue herons. And the thing that helps them of course.

Great blue herons have made a big comeback, thanks in part to beavers

Not that long ago, great blue herons were a rare sight in the Northeast due to hunting pressure and pollution, said Mass Audubon, but they’ve made an impressive comeback in the past few decades. In addition to legal protection of herons and the wetlands they utilize, another factor has helped boost the numbers of great blue herons in Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England: beavers.

“Great blue herons are the beneficiaries of beaver activity,” said Petersen. “Beavers have rebounded because they’re protected, and beavers create habitat that other wildlife uses.” (more…)

“HYPERION TO A SATYR”

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers November 23, 2021

I don’t know HOW I missed this story! But it was recently sent to my by Eli Asarian of Riverbend Sciences. He was pointing out how science misses important facts about beavers and really gets things wrong. Which I could not agree with more.

If you’ve never listened to Radio Lab you’re in for a treat because they do a great job breaking down the story to make it fascinating and informative. The beaver part was fairly short lived but it was enough to make me tear up so that’s saying something.

Of Bombs and Butterflies

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BEAVERS AS “SUPER-RESTORERS”

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and climate change, Educational November 22, 2021

Now this is the kind of article that doesn’t come along every day. It’s written about England but is really talking to every single community that unexpectedly rediscovers beavers in their midst. Not to be way more self-focused than usual, but it could have been written each word for magical word about Martinez. But I guess you knew that, right?

Potential psychological benefits of nature enrichment through the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) to Britain: A narrative literature review

(Okay replace the word “reintroduction” with the word “discovery” and replace castor fiber with castor canadensis and replace to Britain with to Martinez and you get the point.)

It starts by noting that biodiversity is decreasing in the UK (and everywhere else) and that people are feeling more and more stressed out and hopeless about the environment (in England and everywhere else) and that reintroducing beavers is a way to show that we CAN take action that makes things better on a grand scale.

Beavers could act as a ‘super restorer’, facilitating psychological as well as ecological restoration through a beneficial synergy of effects. Through their eco-engineering activities, beavers increase biodiversity at the landscape scale and facilitate habitat restoration and creation (creating a mosaic of green and blue space, and a sense of wilderness) all of which can increase the psychological well-being of visitors. (more…)